Grand National 2026: Runners, Favourites, Start Time and Full Aintree Preview

The 2026 Grand National is due off at 16:00 BST at Aintree on Saturday 11 April, and the final picture is now much clearer than it was at declaration stage. BBC Sport's Friday-updated runners list has the guaranteed field at 34 after Nick Rockett, Spillane's Tower and Pied Piper were ruled out, while Racing Post's racecard lists the race as a good-to-soft marathon over 4 miles 2 furlongs 74 yards and 30 fences.

I Am Maximus heads the market again, which is logical given he won the National in 2024 and finished second in 2025. But this is not a one-horse preview. Grangeclare West, Panic Attack, Jagwar, Iroko and Johnnywho all have credible cases, and Willie Mullins still arrives with a powerful eight-runner team even after losing last year's winner Nick Rockett.

Start time and race setup

Current favourites

The market is headed by proven National form, but it is deeper than one obvious favourite and a long list of outsiders. The names below were the most prominent across BBC Sport, Racing Post and ESPN's Friday morning snapshots.

Confirmed runners

The table below reflects BBC Sport's Friday-updated guaranteed field. The unusual racecard numbering matters because numbers 2, 7 and 35 are the withdrawn horses Nick Rockett, Spillane's Tower and Pied Piper, with Imperial Saint and Amirite now into the 34.

BBC Sport listed Ain't That A Shame, Deep Cave and Buddy One as the remaining reserves on its Friday update, which is useful context if you are checking late market movement rather than just the headline field.

What shapes the race

The stable story remains Willie Mullins. Racing Post noted that 22 of the guaranteed runners are Irish-trained, and Mullins alone still fields I Am Maximus, Grangeclare West, Spanish Harlem, Lecky Watson, Champ Kiely, High Class Hero, Captain Cody and Quai De Bourbon. After saddling the 1-2-3 in last year's race, it is hard to build any honest preview that does not start with his team.

Still, the case for simply siding with the favourite is not as clean as it first looks. ESPN highlighted that I Am Maximus must try to win under top weight of 11st 12lb, something no horse has done since Red Rum in 1974. That pushes the race back towards the other proven stayers and the lower-weight improvers rather than making it a straightforward repeat-play for the market leader.

• Grangeclare West and Iroko already look like reliable Aintree stayers because both shaped strongly in the 2025 running.
• Panic Attack, Jagwar and Johnnywho are the obvious progressive or British-based alternatives near the top of the market.
• Good-to-soft ground should help versatile stayers and sound jumpers more than one-dimensional mud lovers or short-trip speed horses stretched beyond reason.
• Racing Post's own 1-2-3-4 verdict went Captain Cody, Grangeclare West, I Am Maximus and Champ Kiely, which is another reminder that Mullins' depth is not limited to the front two in the betting.

So the most sensible read is that proven National form still deserves to be priced aggressively, but this remains a proper handicap with multiple live profiles. I Am Maximus is the obvious standard-setter. Grangeclare West is the cleanest immediate alternative. Panic Attack, Jagwar, Iroko and Johnnywho give the race a much more competitive top half of the market than casual viewers might assume from the favourite's reputation alone.

Related reading

For the betting mechanics, read Grand National Betting Explained. For the broader story behind Aintree, History of the Grand National: Why Aintree's Famous Race Still Matters is the main companion. If you want the bigger jumps-code context before Saturday, National Hunt vs Flat Racing: What Actually Changes for Bettors and Viewers remains useful.